☃️ It’s 1982, and we’re walking in the air.

🎙️ Adam Parker Sibun from the Merry Britsmas Podcast visits the Advent Calendar House as we melt over a British Christmas classic and a personal favorite I wish was more beloved stateside. 

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💬 Topics & Tangents: 

We have a new theme song! Thanks, Bronwen’s Ghost! 

Merry Britsmas episode on Raymond Briggs. 

The British Film Institute’s Top 100 British TV Programmes of the 20th Century. 

The special’s 3 openings, featuring Briggs, David Bowie, and Mel Smith as Father Christmas. 

The original picture book wasn’t a Christmas story. 

Other Briggs works mentioned: “Father Christmas,” “Fungus the Bogeyman,” “Ethel and Ernest,” and “When the Wind Blows.” 

How The Snowman melted David Bowie’s heart (The Guardian, December 2016) 

Duncan Jones finds his dad’s scarf. 

Video of an owl flying over snow I eerily shared on Facebook the night David Bowie died. 

The Maccabees cover “Walking in the Air.” 

The Royal Pavilion and Brighton Palace Pier. 

Today’s TV Trope: Polar Bears and Penguins. 

The Snowman in a commercial for Barbour outerwear. 

Irn-Bru soft drink’s parody commercial, and its sequel. 

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📼 Commercials: 

1985 Toys “R” Us Snowman Commercial featuring Aled Jones covering “Walking in the Air” (sung in the special by Peter Auty).  

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“The Snowman” © 1982 Snowman Enterprises Ltd.  

Find us at adventcalendar.house.